


sentimental fool (don't let your heart get in the way)

by amosanguis



Series: Episode & Movie Tags/AUs [35]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, BAMF Carl, Episode AU: s06e05 Now, Gen, POV Alternating, Werewolves, title from a song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-19 01:19:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5950687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amosanguis/pseuds/amosanguis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carl has the prisoner’s scent; even if Morgan did turn him loose, Carl could (would) find him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sentimental fool (don't let your heart get in the way)

**Author's Note:**

> \--Title from "Hold On Loosely" by .38 Special because this particular lyric just fit Carl so nicely.  
> \--I just really love these guys as werewolves, idk.

-z-

 

“You call yourselves ‘wolves’?” Carl sneers, his nose wrinkling.  He feels Morgan’s hand on his shoulder, trying to pull him back, but he shrugs him off.

“We are—” the prisoner starts.

“— _pathetic_ ,” Carl interrupts coolly, he stalks forward the same way he’s seen his father do.

 

-x-

 

Rick used to love to howl long and deep into the night.  He wishes he had been able to teach Carl how before all—before _all of this_.  Before a howl would draw every Walker within 50 miles.

Lori was human and never understood the draw of the full moon – she let him go Run, sure, but she never _understood_. 

(It was only because Carl was born ‘wolf that Rick decided to stay in the end.)

 

-x-

 

Carl leans forward, lets his eyes flash just the way he’s been practicing – gold with red flecks, hints of his alpha heritage – and suppresses a smirk when the man flinches backwards.

“‘Wolf’,” Carl says, stepping back with a derisive snort.  “You’re nothing but scavenging _dogs_ , if you’re anything at all.”  He turns to Morgan and says, “If you don’t kill him, then I will.”

He doesn’t wait to hear Morgan’s excuses – just turns and leaves.  Carl has the prisoner’s scent; even if Morgan did turn him loose, Carl could (would) find him.

 

-x-

 

It scares Rick sometimes just how quiet Carl can be.

 _Quiet_ is something that’s against Rick’s nature; _quiet_ is something for the now starving vampires, _quiet_ is for the humans hiding in the shadows. 

‘Wolves are supposed to be loud and confident – they weren’t supposed to sneak around because there has never been anything that could outrun them.  A ‘wolf is honest in where he lays his feet and so Rick’s never had to learn how to be _quiet_.

Except that things are different now.  He has his humans to care for.  He has Carl and he has Judith; he had the prison – and now he has Alexandria.

And Rick learns how to be _quiet_.

 

-x-

 

Carl watches as his father drops over the wall – alone.  He doesn’t panic despite the sounds of a herd just beyond Rick.

“How’d he do that?” an Alexandrian Carl doesn’t know asks another woman beside her, their mouths are dropped and she’s cradling her arm against her chest.

“I don’t know,” the second woman says.

Carl turns away from them – his dad had made a point of not telling the Alexandrians what he, Carl, and Judith were, hadn’t wanted to make the Alexandrians even more scared of their group than they already were.

(“Much less coming up and asking for the Bite,” he’d added later, when the others had settled in various parts of the living room, pretending to sleep.  He’d even playfully gnashed his teeth at Judith – she answering with the weak hiccup of a cub’s growl.

Carl had wanted to ask if his dad ever thought about turning some of their group – make them all blood pack – but he had never quite been able to find the right way to ask the question.)

 

-

 

Later, when the moon has settled just below the horizon, his dad falls to his knees besides Carl.

“I’m done,” he says.  “Morgan let the guy go.”

And, in the dark, Carl smirks.  “Time to go hunting?”

“Yeah, it is.”

Carl stands and puts his nose to the wind, inhales deep – and, quietly, leads his father into the forest.

 

-z-

 

End.

 


End file.
